2009 GPS Unit Buyers Guide Part Two – Top Portable GPS Units

If there is one characteristic that all of the best-selling portable GPS devices share, it is uniformity. In terms of shape and size, most GPS units look very, very similar, and as discussed in the first part of this two-part portable GPS buying guide, all of these portable GPS units offer very similar functionality.

The portable GPS industry is dominated by two companies: Garmin and TomTom. In fact, of the devices we examined, all but one were produced by Garmin. As such, we’ll analyze Garmin’s offerings first, arranged in descending order by price.

Garmin's top-of-the-line Nuvi 885

The top of the line Garmin GPS unit is the nüvi 885/885T. With a list price approaching $600.00, the 885 can more often be found selling for around $350.00 online.

One of the benefits of paying so much for a GPS device is the fact that the nüvi 885 can recognize speech commands – you can use your voice to move through its menus. It also includes 6 million pre-loaded destinations such as restaurants, movie theatres, national parks and other points of interest. It’s a solid unit, but it’s not our favorite…mostly because of the price.

Garmin's nuvi 755-765-775-785 family are all the same unit, with only minor differences between them.

The next Garmin we looked at is the nüvi 765/765T. Its street price is just under $300.00, and for that amount of money it offers similar features to the 885, minus the speech recognition. The device’s lane guidance feature helps you to more easily find highway exits, and like many Garmin devices it can be transformed into a hands-free speaker for a cell phone thanks to Bluetooth.

The 755-785 family also features multi-point routing, which means you can use your GPS to find the best route to visit more than one destination. Using a built-in FM transmitter, all the units in the 755-785 family can transmit directions through your vehicle’s speaker system. This feature is nice because, sometimes, the volume on the GPS is just a little too low.

If you like the 765 but don’t need Bluetooth connectivity, the nüvi 755 is a nice option that’s less than $250. Moving up from the 765, the nüvi 775 and nüvi 785 include more maps and a slightly upgraded traffic data system. Cool extras, but we think the 765 or 755 are the units to pick from this family.

Our top pick is the Garmin nuvi 260

Our favorite unit on this list is the nüvi 260W (about $140). It’s very basic, but it features a nice big screen, text-to-speech directions, an easy-to-use interface, and good battery life. The nüvi 260 doesn’t have the traffic finder feature (the 260 isn’t even compatible with the feature, but the 255 is compatible with an external adapter), so if you want traffic info then one of the higher-priced units on this list is a better option.

However, as far as “bang for the buck” is concerned, the nüvi 260W is a solid little device that does exactly what you need.

TomTom's GO 720 is a nice mid-range portable GPS with some nice custom mapping options.

The sole TomTom offering to crack this list is the GO 720. Priced at around $220.00, it compares favorably with the mid-range Garmin options in terms of features. It includes an MP3 player, traffic and weather updates through a Bluetooth cellular connection and of course spoken directions. The GO 720 can also connect to an online service called MapShare, which allows for special maps and directions created by other TomTom users to be uploaded into the device.

Bottom Line: If you’re into futuristic options like voice recognition and up-to-date traffic data, a high end unit might be the way to go. Are you a road warriors doing business on the road? The mid-range devices are probably the best option – they’re catered to a business type user with a little bit of tech savvy. Are you looking for a lot of the features of a good GPS without spending a lot? If so, the Garmin 260 is our recommendation.

Whichever GPS device you choose, it’s hard to go wrong choosing one of the units on this list. We found them all to be fun and easy to use, and in our limited “test drive” they all performed nicely.